Burgers, Biscuits, and Birthday Cake

So, every time I have tried to lose weight, it's basically been a crash diet that I haven't been able to stick to.  As I said before, it's all about changing your mindset, which I never did.  27 years is a long time to be set in your ways.  This time, however, it has been different.  I'm not sure what it is, but it's just been easier.  Granted, I'm only a little over two weeks into this transformation, but so far, I've lost 11.5 pounds, which I think is pretty good.  I know things are going to get harder the longer I stick to this, but in the long run, I'm going to be better off.  That is, as long as I don't have many weekends like this last one.

I honestly picked the worst time of the year to start losing weight; two weeks before my birthday, which also happens to be Memorial Day.  There are certain holidays where diets should be outlawed, and this is one of them.  I started dreading it the moment I lost my first pound, because I knew what was coming on that four day weekend:  burgers, biscuits, and the biggest threat of all...birthday cake!  (Just a little background, I have the same Devil's Food birthday cake every year, and I look forward to it from the minute the last one is gone.)  I knew I would have to set boundaries for myself all weekend, because now is not the time for me to fall off the proverbial wagon.

Since my family typically has a cookout for my birthday, with several of my life-long friends coming over, I knew I was in for it.  We had to have food, and not everyone is on a diet like me.  I would be the one to have to acclimate and prepare myself for all of the food that was going to be in front of me.  My parents were great, however, in that they had lots of vegetables and low-fat foods for me to munch on.  I knew though, that the birthday cake was waiting in the wings.  I could hear it screaming my name, telling me to cut into it.  So, I did, and let me just say...IT WAS THE BEST CAKE EVER!  I was dreading the feeling of guilt that would come over me as soon as I finished the piece I was eating.  I was surprised though, that it never came.  I realized, there was nothing to feel guilty about.

You have to reward yourself for a job well done.  My reward was that piece of cake.  I knew that one piece would not kill me, nor get me into my old mindset.  That was when I knew that I was changing, not just my body, but my mind as well.  I'm proud to say that I didn't gain a single pound the entire weekend (I didn't lose any either, but we will just keep that to ourselves.)  Now that the weekend is over, and everything is back to normal, let's get this show on the road again.

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